Top Stories

LONDON, October 9: As part of UKTV’s re-branding strategy, UKTV Documentary and UKTV People will relaunch in early 2009 as Eden and Blighty, respectively. Eden, which looks at the world around us, will feature blue-chip series such as Planet Earth, …

LONDON, October 9: The Singing Priests, an hour-long documentary and live concert special from Waddell Media, has joined the catalogue of Outright Distribution. The Singing Priests follows three unassuming catholic priests from Northern Ireland who were discovered and signed to …

NEW YORK, October 9: Spike TV has picked up a two-hour pilot from MGM Television Entertainment about the Irish mob in Boston, with an option to order a full series. Production on the pilot begins late this fall, with Walter …

LONDON, October 9: In the lead-up to MIPCOM, Leopard International has closed a number of deals across Europe for a range of its in-house productions and one-off series. Belgium’s Vitaya picked up three titles: My Life for Sale, Beyond Repair …

LONDON, October 9: ITV Global Entertainment has announced an output deal with the new independent outfit Blink Films, as well as a first-look, exclusive distribution alliance with Kindle Entertainment. ITV Global will represent all rights to shows produced by Blink, …

LONDON, October 9: Passion Distribution will launch 34 episodes of Vera Productions’ award-winning satirical Channel 4 series Bremner, Bird & Fortune at MIPCOM. Passion Distribution, founded earlier this year by Sally Miles, will launch seasons 9, 10, 11, 12 and …

LONDON, October 9: Power’s Crusoe, which launches on NBC this month, has shored up presales in more than 40 major markets, signing up Nine Network in Australia, Rai in Italy and Antena 3 in Spain, among others. Deals have also …

LONDON, October 9: ALL3MEDIA International will be at MIPCOM showcasing a slate of titles from Objective Productions as well as from Studio Lambert, the venture set up by former RDF executive Stephen Lambert and ALL3MEDIA earlier this year. Headlining Studio …

BUENOS AIRES, October 9: Televisa has closed a three-year deal with Argentina’s Cris Morena Group (CMG) and RGB Entertainment for the creation, production and distribution of content for family audiences. “We’re very pleased to have closed this deal with CMG …

LOS ANGELES, October 9: Adding to its third-party fare, Bennett Media Worldwide has picked up Intensi-T, a music variety series from producer/DJ Mickey Oliver. The 10×30-minute series, focused on house music, combines live DJ performances, comedy sketches and choreographed dance …